Sting has relocated a concert in the Philippines following protests by environmental groups. The singer called off a concert at Pasay's SM Mall of Asia arena after complaints that the stadium's owners were planning to uproot 182 trees as part of a shopping centre expansion.

For months, a group called Project: Save 182 has been fighting the planned redevelopment of the SM City Baguio mall, planned to include the removal of dozens of trees from Luneta Hill. Environmentalists' protests have included public plantings at other sites, offering "symbolic support for the trees intended to be cut, earth-balled and harmed" by the conglomerate SM Prime Holdings – founded by the Philippines' richest man, Henry Sy.

Following letters from campaigners, Sting has now announced the relocation of his concert on 9 December, moving the gig from SM Mall of Asia Arena to the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City. This was "the decision of the artist himself", reps from SM Mall of Asia told the Associated Press. "Understandably, the known environment-advocate artist was left with no choice in spite of the SM representatives' appeal."

In their initial press release, SM Prime Holdings said that the Mall of Asia Arena "has nothing to do with" the 182 trees "except for the fact that it is also under the same holding company as the Baguio [site]". They went on: "It seems that the activists behind Project: Save 182 are bent on taking down the SM brand in general … [and] ruining a corporate giant's reputation completely."

But in a later statement, the company struck a different tone. "[SM] regrets that there has been a lot of disinformation on its Baguio redevelopment plan, which apparently has reached Sting," they wrote on Saturday. "For the record, SM City Baguio plans to redevelop its facilities in order to address an urgent topsoil erosion problem … to protect the integrity of its Baguio mall ... These trees will be relocated, not cut."

In 1989 Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, founded the Rainforest Foundation, which aims to protect rainforests and the indigenous people who live within them. It has helped save 28m acres of rainforest, in more than 20 different countries.